29 Sep 2012

We never got to watch the last matches of yesterday's unique best of 69 between FXO.BabyKnight and GL.Snute, but apparently BabyKnight's performance just gradually worsened as he got more and more tired.

It wasn't surprising that the result of series in the end came down to a test in endurance, which Snute certainly won.

The final score was:

Snute vs. BabyKnight = 35 - 21

Congratulations to Snute!

It was damn impressive that neither Snute, BabyKnight nor Kaelaris gave up somewhere along the way, and all in all it was a really cool idea actually.

The next time though they should consider splitting it up over a couple of days. It wouldn't as impressive, but a lot more humane for everyone involved.

Oh and btw, we have never seen so much funny in-game chat as in this series, and both Snute and BabyKnight showed that their real heroes when it comes to good manners and humor.

9. on Xel'Naga Caverns - Snute did 2 -base hydralisk/roach attack with overseers making cool creep highway all the way to BabyK's base. BabyK lost natural and Snute got gold base and gained too big a lead = 4 - 5

10. on TPW Tenarsis - Snute managed to do two devastating zergling run-bys into BabyK's main because of sloppy forcefields and Snute gained too big a lead = 4 - 611. on Bel'shir Beach (Winter) - BabyK did some really cool heavy sentry aggression on Snute's third and followed up with heavy 2-base all-in with proxy cannons that Snute couldn't defend against = 5 - 612. on Arid Plateau - BabyK invested in four early Phoenixes that took out all Snute's Queens, but Snute did a massive counter-attack with roaches and zerglings that BabyK couldn't resist and Snute took the game = 5 - 713. on ESV Helios - BabyK did a FFE and cannon aggression that killed two of Snute's queens and a lot of drones. He followed up with heavy gateway aggression that Snute couldn't withstand = 6 - 7
14. on The Eighteenth - A really zerg favored map that produced a macro game with Snute quickly getting almost 100 drones and a lot of Mutalisks whose numbers just kept growing, and their harassment won Snute the game eventually = 6 - 815. on Korhal Compound TE - BabyK went for some 2-base void ray aggression and followed up with carriers. For a while the game was back and forth, but Snute got out too many corrupters and mutalisks and they eventually crushed the carriers = 6 - 916. on Whirlwind - BabyK went for DT's that managed to take out Snute's third base, but at the same time Snute did a counter-attack with Zerglings/Roaches and they did were able to take out a billion probes and Snute took another game = 6 - 1017. on Python - BabyK did big 2-base sentry/zealot/stalker attack and with perfect forcefields he was able to take out Snute's defense and army and win the game = 7 - 10

18. on Jungle Basin - Snute did a really cool 2-base Nydus play in BabyK's main, and Snute brought around 10 Queens and a bunch of roaches and they absolutely tore BabyK's main apart. This gave him an insane lead and eventually he rolled over BabyK's natural as well = 7 - 1119. on Ohana - Snute went for some heavy mutalisk play and he managed to hide them all from BabyK, so when they finally attacked BabyK didn't have enough anti-air units and he simply died = 7 - 1220. on Tal'darim Alter (no rocks) - The longest game so far ending up lasting 45 minutes (I feel so sorry for Kaelaris), which BabyK eventually took by having secured 6 bases and a bank of 10 k minerals and 6 k gas, thus being able to rebuild his army very quickly after the big final engagements = 8 - 1221. on iCCup Fighting Spirit - Snute tried to go for the sick middle double gold base, but he couldn't stop BabyK's big army when the Protoss finally pushed out = 9 - 1222. on Dual Sight - BabyK went for a 4-gate and almost broke Snute's defense with great forcefields. Snute had way too many zerglings though and eventually he took the game = 9 - 1323. on Incineration Zone - Snute did a very quick 1-base all-in roach rush that caught BabyK completely by surprise = 9 - 14

24. on ESV Muspelheim BabyK tried to get some payback by doing a proxy double gateway but Snute scouted it and stayed on one base and deflected the attack. He then went for a roach counter push which BabyK wasn't prepared for at all = 9 - 1525. on Searing Crater - BabyK never really seemed to understand the map and wasn't able to do a proper wall-in and Snute once again did an early rush and BabyK couldn't defend and just GG'd - 9 - 1626. on City of the Damned - both players expanded quickly. Snute went for a baneling drop push but BabyK defended very well with stalkers and immortals. BabyK then pushed into Snutes base who really didn't have anything to hold off him - 10 - 1627. on TPW Ashes - Once again BabyK hadn't exactly figured out how the map worked and he misplaced a pylon completely. Later Snute lured him out on the map by showing only two roaches, but then crushed BabyK's army with a big bunch of hidden roaches as BabyK came out and eventually rolled over BabyK with roaches once again - 10 - 1728. on iCCup TestBug - BabyK went for a 2-base immortal/sentry attack, but Snute had gone for a massive mutalisk force and they managed to kill almost all of BabyK's probes and afterwards returned home to help kill the remainder of BabyK's attacking force - 10 - 18

29. on TPW Insurrection - Once again BabyK made a very strange wall due to him not having played the map. He followed up with some 5-gate aggression that killed a lot of drones, but didn't break Snute. He followed this up with an all-in 7 gate plus immortal push, but Snute was able to barely deflect it with infestors - 10 - 19

30. on Cloud Kingdom - Snute went for some low tier heavy pressure with roaches/zerglings and managed to prevent BabyK from take his third for a long ting, while Snute secured a perfect 4 base economy. Snute went for a big infestor based attack at BabyK's third, but it was deflected and BabyK counter-pushed and crushed Snute - 11 - 19

31. on Atlantis Spaceship - Snute weirdly went for a 7 pool, but BabyK scouted it early and walled off and Snute decided to expand and transition instead. Eventually BabyK went for another big 2-base all-in with mainly stalkers, but Snute hadn't been greedy this game and he managed to deflect it - 11 - 20

32. on Scrap Station (according to Kaelaris the best map ever created by Blizzard) - BabyK went double stargate into heavy voidray production. Snute had already gone for heavy Hydralisks though, so he defended and then showed some nice overlord drops and Nydus networks to eventually crush BabyK. Weird game on a weird map :) - 11 - 2133. on Terminus SE - Both expanded and BabyK harassed with stalkers and zealots followed up with DTs and killed Snute's third. BabyK eventually followed up with a massive push with mainly blink stalkers and with that he was able to win the game - 12 - 21

34. on Crevasse - BabyK went for cool double stargate into heavy phoenix build, but once again was overrun and caught by surprise by a heavy roach/zergling attack by Snute - 12 - 22

That mean's they're only half way (potentially) :)

For the sake of great SC 2 heroes BabyKnight, Snute, Kaelaris and just E-sports in general, we would love to continue watching and updating from this epic BO 69 series, but unfortunately we can't.

27 Sep 2012

So today's GSL Round of 16 group, was group B which consisted of coL_Heart, StarTale_Squirtle, Liquid_Hero and FXOLeenock.

Even though our average win rate prediction (see post below) suggested that Heart and Squirtle would advance from today's group, we have to admit that we ourselves were probably rooting more for the other three players.

Squirtle vs. Heart

First set was on Whirlwind with Squirtle spawning in the top right and Heart in the bottom left.

Heart did a greedy quick 3-base macro build and Squirtle eventually went up to 3 bases as well, but was behind in economy throughout most of the game.Heart tried to break Squirtle's third base many times with his lead in army supply, but Squirtle won all the engagements while also doing very effective Zealot harass at Heart's third.
When Squirtle finally did a big counter push he crushed Heart's army and took the set.

Second set was on Antiga Shipyard with Heart in the top right and Squirtle in the bottom left.

This time they both went up to two bases both of them going for double upgrades.Squirtle was a bit slower with his colossus tech than in set 1 and Heart tried hard to put on heavy aggression with his 2-base bioforce and he managed to do a very effective 4 medivac drop taking out Squirtle's main nexus.Squirtle on the other hand won a big engagement in the center a short while later and from there they both went up to three bases.

Around the 16-minute mark Heart did a massive push that took out Squirtle's third just before Storm had finished. Squirtle though in the meanwhile harassed Heart's third and took out all his SCV's.
So in the end neither was practically mining and it came down to a final engagement where Squirtle stormed all Heart's vikings and afterwards melted Heart's remaining forces with Colossi and storms winning the Protoss the series.

Squirtle vs. Heart = 2-0

Hero vs. Leenock

First set was on daybreak.

Hero did a Forge-Fast expand and then tried a cannon rush at the third of Leenock.Hero ended up investing heavily in it building 4 cannons and 2 pylons, but Leenock managed to safe his third so at this point Hero had wasted quite a lot of minerals.Hero then went up to 7 gateways and tried a timing attack at Leenock's third where Leenock also had his macro hatch. Hero took out the macro hatch, but Leenock once again managed to save the original third.
Now Leenock was far ahead in economy and Hero quite late tried to take this third to catch up.
But Leenock produced a massive amount of roaches along with a few infestors and he just started sending waves towards the natural and third of Hero eventually outlasting him and with that Leenock took the set.

The second set was on Cloud Kingdom.

Leenock went for some 3-base mutalisk play, but hero did a warp prism zealot drop that took out Leenocks spire so his mutalisk count stayed at his initial 12.
But his mutalisk still gave him map control and he was able to take a fourth and fifth base while keeping Hero home on the defense.Hero eventually pushed out and took out Leenock's fourth but in the meantime Leenock was going up to a infestor/broodlord composition.

When Leenock had around 12 broodlords Hero managed to do another successful warp prism harass that took out Leenock's greater spire, and at the same time he pushed and took out Leenock's fifth base.Leenock then went for a big broodlord/infestor push at Hero's fourth, but Hero just barely managed to defend it.Hero went up to five bases while denying Leenock's attempt to take a fifth. He also did a fantastic storm drop on the drones at Leenock's fourth and Leenock's economy was completely destroyed.Leenock decided to go for a final big infestor/broodlord push at Hero's fourth and managed to take it out with Hero retreating.
Eventually though Hero reinforced and went back for an attack on Leenock's army and Hero managed to sandwich it and with good storms and blink-micro take out all of Leenock's army.
So at this point Leenock had no army or economy left and was forced to GG.

The third and deciding set was on Antiga Shipyard.

Hero went up to two bases and Leenock up to three bases without either getting bothered.
When Hero tried to take his third, Leenock pushed with a big bunch of roaches to deny it, but Hero controlled too well and managed to defend it.Hero on the other hand pulled of a very successful warp prism zealot warp in at the main of Leenock and it killed a lot of drones.

Leenock tried different roach attacks, but Hero was on top of everything and Leenock just kept losing units.Leenock tried to take his fourth in the top but Hero denied it with a warp prism. Instead Leenock took the center base instead, but hero denied this as well while Hero himself expanded in the bottom left.Leenock then double expanded in the top right while going up to broodlords, but Hero once again took out both of Leenock's two new bases so he was still only on three bases, while Hero took his fifth.Leenock once again tried to take a fourth base, but Hero denied it again while taking his own sixth base.

At this point Leenock had no mining, but a giant broodlord/infestor/queen army so he pushed towards Hero's base, knowing that he had to win the game with that army.
In the center he managed to neural Hero's mothership and throw down a perfect vortix on all of Hero's Colossi and then take them out when they spawned.
He then went towards Hero's main and with perfect army control he took out Hero's original main, natural and third base forcing Hero to retreat.Hero still denied any attempts from Leenock to expand so Hero was still mining on three bases with Leenock not mining at all.
But Leenock just continued his push towards the new bases of Hero and in the end Hero never found an answer for Leenock's big army, and Hero was forced to GG in a cool game that he had dominated completely until Leenock's final push.

Leenock vs. Hero = 2-1

Squirtle vs. Leenock

First set was on Ohana with Leenock in the top and Squirtle in the bottom.

Leenock went for an early 10-pool attack and with that he managed to force a cancel on Squirtle's natural, but apart from that he couldn't do any damage as Squirtle got a cannon down in his main.
So the game transitioned into normal game with Leenock going up to three bases and Squirtle once again up to two.Leenock took his fourth and Squirtle took his third (really delayed though because of a burrowed zergling).
Eventually Leenock pushed out with a max'd zergling/infestor/roach army and for a long while he just kept pushing at the natural and third constantly sending new units and he very effeciently managed to take out all the important units of Squirtle.
When he followed up a couple of minutes later with broodlord/infestors Hero only had stalkers to defend and was therefore crushed.

The second set was on Cloud Kingdom with Squirtle spawning in the bottom left and Leenock in the top right.

Squirtle did a three base push with a good bunch of sentries that took out Leenock's fourth.Squirtle then retreated and Leenock retook his fourth and also a fifth while going up to hive.Squirtle took his fourth and geared up for a big timing before any of Leenock's dear broodlords could get out.Leenock had a lot of spines at his fourth, but Squirtle's timing was perfect and his attack landed right before broodslords were done and he was able to take out the fourth and third of Leenock's. He then retreated as the broodlords came out and a short while later even managed to take out the original fifth of Leenock's exploiting the slow speed of the broodlords.

Hero took his fifth while Leenock retook his fourth and once again Leenock found himself down in bases and economy but in this game as well he still had a big infestor/broodlord army.Leenock got a fifth base, but Squirtle denied his attempt to take a sixth, and a few minutes later also took out the fifth of Leenock with Archons.
So at this point Squirtle had 6000 minerals and 3000 gas and a really scary max'd out army.Squirtle took his sixth, but when Leenock pushed out with his broodlord/infestor army he managed to take out the fourth base of Squirtle.
In the end it came down to a final big engagement and once again Leenock's Broodlord/Infestor/Queen couldn't be stopped. Both Squirtle and Hero (and every other protoss in the world) should be scratching their heads right now wondering how on earth that composition of Leenock's can be stopped.

Leenock vs. Squirtle = 2-0

Hero vs. Heart

The first set was on Ohana with Heart in the bottom and Hero in the top.

Hero expanded pretty quickly whereas Heart went for a somewhat fast 1-base marine/banshee/tank push (1-1-1 build).Heart managed to catch a few of Hero's stalkers out on the map with Hero didn't have nowhere near enough to stop Heart from taking out his natural.
At this point Heart had Hero contained in the main and I think he considered leapfrogging in with the tanks, but he accidentally miss-clicked and killed one of his own tanks so instead he retreated.

He stayed on one base though and a couple of minutes later he went for a final all-in attack.Hero had also stayed on 1 base though, and at this point he had a bunch of immortals and phoenixes out. Heart got a good siege up in reach of Hero's buildings, but Hero managed to engage perfectly with his immortals and phoenixes and he took out Heart's army and with that won the set.

The second set was on Antiga Shipyard with Hero in the top left and Heart in the bottom right.

Hero once again expanded relatively fast, whereas Heart went for a four hellion medivac drop. Hero scouted the drop though and defended perfectly in his main. At the same time Heart tried to get a bunker up by Hero's natural, but this was deflected as well.
So Heart's aggression didn't do anything at all, but he had built another CC in the meantime so the game seemed to transition into a longer game.

A few minutes later though Hero got his first Colossus out and he decided to go for a poke attack, that was in no way all-in as he was building twilight, and double forge behind it.Heart didn't have stim and no real way of defending against the single Colossus and Hero just force fielded the ramp and he could easily take out the natural and Heart GG'd.Hero won the one-sided game and series in very dominating fashion.

Hero vs. Heart = 2-0

Squirtle vs. Hero

First set was on Cloud Kingdom with Hero in the bottom and Squirtle in the top and actually turned out to be a pretty cool and weird game.

Squirtle did a 3 stalker into expand build whereas Hero went for a 1-base 3 gates and stargate play.Hero pushed at the natural of Squirtle when he had about 4 Phoenixes and for almost 10 minutes it was just an insane macro game with the small engagements constantly going back and forth.Hero upgraded +1 attack which must have been a mistake, especially since he only had two phoenixes left, but in the the micro of Hero was slightly better and eventually he was able to take out Squirtle's last units and with that the game.

The second set was on Entombed Valley with Hero in the top left and Squirtle in the bottom left.

Squirtle went for a phoenix build and Hero for a Blink stalker with observer build.Hero went to pressure with the blink stalkers and with perfect micro he managed to take out quite a lot of Squirtle's units. After the while he decided to force field the ramp and trap Squirtle in his main, while Hero himself could safely expand.Hero got his expansion up, but at the same time managed to blink into the main of Squirtle and take out important units like immortals.
Eventually Squirtle got a Colossus out, but Hero once again blinked in and took it out. So Squirtle had no real army and was on 1 base so that was GG with Hero definitely having chosen the best build in the match.

Hero vs. Squirtle = 2-0

So the player's that advanced from today's group were Leenock and Hero, meaning that the average match rate statistics this time proved absolutely useless.

Congratulations to Leenock and Hero on moving into the RO 8 which as you can see below looks absolutely horrible this season. Auch... you could cut yourself to death on that RO8.

Anyway, today we saw a lot of pretty one-sided games with 4 of the 5 series ending 2-0, but also a few pretty cool games.
If we had to recommend one series it would be the one between Hero and Leenock (especially set 2 and 3).

FXO_Leenock: 51,7 % vs. P - 73,3 % vs. Z - 57,1 % vs. T - average win rate of 58 %
Based on this logic Heart will beat Squirtle in the first match, and Hero will beat Leenock in the second match.
In the winner's match Heart will then beat Hero, and in the loser's match Squirtle will beat Leenock.
In the last match of the day Squirtle will then beat Hero.

MarineKing: 69,7 % vs. P - 68,4 % vs. Z - 45 % vs. T - average win rate of 60,7 %
First match of the day was Mvp vs. JYP and based solely on their respective win rates it should be no difficulty for Mvp to take the series with his 69,2 % vs. P, opposed to JYP's mere 27,3 % vs. T.

Second match of the day was Curious vs. MarineKing and based on their win rates, this should be a closer series, with MarineKing though taking the series with his 68,4 % vs. Z, and Curious barely trailing with his 64 % vs. T.

Following the same strict win rate logic, Mvp would then beat MarineKing in the winner's match, and JYP would defeat Curious in the loser's match.
In the last series MarineKing would then take out JYP, meaning the Mvp and MarineKing would advance.

BUT statistics is one thing, and reality another and whereas Mvp and MarineKing certainly are the two players in the group with the best GSL history, JYP and especially Curious has looked really strong recently.
For instance: Curious beat MarineKing in the RO 32, so we doubt he cares about win rates.

Anyway, now for the Recap!

Mvp vs. JYP

First set was on Abyssal City with Mvp spawning in the left and JYP in the right.JYP went for a somewhat fast, but also safe sentry into expansion build while Mvp quickly built two extra command centers in his main.Mvp then flew his command centers out to his natural and shortly afterwards third location.JYP went for a 2 base push with 6 gates and a single Colossus, but he just poked a bit and then went home and took his third instead.JYP tried some minor Zealot harass at Mvp's third, but it didn't too massive damage and from thereJYP tried to set up to take his own third.
But at that point Mvp had had a good 3-base economy for while and he was ready to go for a big three base push.JYP saw it coming and did all he could to try and finish storm, but he did not get it done in time and when MVP arrived at his base he simply had too many vikings that just tore JYP's collossi apart and Mvp took the set.

Second set was on Daybreak.

Mvp took early gas which JYP scouted, but after JYP left the base Mvp cancelled it and went for an early command center instead.
At the same time he built a ebay in JYP's natural to block and delay JYP's expansion.
This caused JYP to throw down two gateways first while taking the ebay out before he could eventually expand.
Perhaps because of the quick three gates, JYP then went for a push around the 7-minute mark with 3 sentries, 5 stalkers and a few zealots, and with this force he managed to catch a bunch of MVP's marines that were out on the map scouting.

He then headed towards the natural of Mvp, but Mvp quickly got a couple of bunkers up and a lot of SCVs ready to repair and JYP therefore retreated.
But then JYP rather sneakily went back to poke again and this time the SCVs weren't there so JYP managed to take out a bunker and good bunch of units by throwing down nice forcefields.JYP went up to around 7 gates while getting zealots speed and gearing up for templar tech and at this point he was way in the lead with 52 probes to 38 SCVs.

At the 13-minute JYP already had his third so Mvp went for a big 4 medivac drop in JYPs main to try and get back in the game.MVP did some damage, but when JYP returned to the main he threw down killer storms and took out all of MVPs forces.

Mvp then went for a push at the third, while doing a new small drop in the main. JYP took out both of MVP's attacking forces, but not without losing a lot of probes.
At this point they were even in supply but Mvp was down a base and behind in economy so Mvp decided to go for a big push at JYP's third again while dropping in the natural of JYP.JYP managed to sneak some high templars up on Mvp's army from behind, but the storms he ended up throwing down were pretty bad and the engagement really favored MVP who could finally take his third.Mvp went to push again at the third and once again JYP sneaked up high templars from behind and this time they threw down some really effective storms.
At the same time JYP did some Zealot harass at Mvp's natural and at this point they had both killed almost 30 workers in the game.JYP then went for a big push at the third of Mvp which was in the left center, and Mvp's army had gone up to his natural to clean up the Zealots.
This meant that JYP easily could take out Mvp's third and when Mvp's army arrived to defend, JYP threw down perfect storms to really win him the engagement, and apart from a few cloaked ghosts Mvp had nothing left and shortly afterwards he GG'd.

Third set was on Entombed valley.

JYP went for a gate and cybernetics in his main, and then a proxy gate outside Mvp's natural.Mvp had taking his natural rather quickly, but also built a bunker in front of his natural.Mvp scouted the proxy gate so he got all his marines back in his bunker which meant he was safe.
So JYP was behind economically and therefore decided to double expand to try and catch up.Mvp then took out JYP's proxy gate, without JYP even trying to defend it and JYP threw down 5 gates at home instead.Mvp went for a big push and JYP didnt have a lot of units, but a bit of stuff and 4 sentries and he managed to trap some of Mvp's units on the ramp and this meant Mvp had to retreat.
Instead JYP went for a big counterattack at Mvp's natural, but Mvp had a bunch of bunkers and defended perfectly making it a very bad engagement for JYP.
So now Mvp was far ahead in supply and when he went for the counterpush JYP didnt have enough forcefields to defend and the bio army of Mvp tore him apart.

Mvp vs. JYP = 2-1

Curious vs. MarineKing

First set was on Ohana with Curious spawning in the top and MarineKing in the bottom.

MarineKing went double rax at 11 supply. He placed them both in the top of his main wanting to fly them down and go for some heavy agression. Curious couldn't find any barracks so guessed that some sort of agression was coming.

MarineKing pulled 6 SCVs and along with the first bunch of marines he went to push at the natural of Curious and started building a bunker there.Curious pulled all drones except for two to try and deny MarineKing's agression and he forced a cancel on the first bunker. Marineking started building another but now Curious had around 6 zerglings out.
He trapped MarineKing in the corner preventing the marines from entering the bunker, but at the same time MarineKing's marines had a perfect spot in the corner to take out so many of curious units.
Eventually he got the bunker up and as some more marines arrived he took the game.

The second set was on Whirlwind with Curious spawning in the top left and MarineK in the top right.

Curious went for a expand into quick gas and pool aiming for fast zergling speed and eventually a baneling bust.
Unfortunately for him MarineKing had gone quick gas into reactor'd hellions and banshees while staying on one base.

This was practically a buildorder loss for Curious and it didn't help that MarineKing scouted the incoming attack and took out the 6 first zerglings of Curious.Curious tried the baneling bust, but the hellions in MarineKings main dealt with the attack rather easily and at this point the supply was 44 to 28 in MarineKing's favor.
Eventually MarineKing attacked with 8 hellions and Curious could do nothing against them so MarineKing took the game and the series.

MarineKing vs. Curious = 2-0

Mvp vs. MarineKing

First set was on Whirlwind with Mvp spawning in the top left and MarineKing the bottom right.
MarineKing went for 2 gas quickly into banshees, but Mvp scouted the two gasses.Mvp went for reactor'd hellions while MarineKing also went for cloak for his banshees while they both threw down another command center in their main.
As MarineKing's banshee arrived at Mvp's base there was already a viking out.Mvp scanned and took out the banshee without it doing any damage at all. MarineKing then sent another banshee and even a third and both of them were killed instantly which meant he had wasted so much money on nothing.Mvp then counter-attacked with his hellions at the natural of MarineKing, who lost a ton of SCVs and at this point Mvp doubled the supply of MarineKing who stayed in the game as he always does, but eventually was rolled over when Mvp pushed out again.

The second set was on Daybreak and a pretty epic game.

Mvp went for quick banshee this time (no cloak) and then expand whereas MarineKing just went for a quick expand.Mvp killed 6 SCVs with his single no-cloack banshee, which ironically was a lot more damage than MarineKing did with his three cloaked banshees in the previous set.Mvp built another command center while going for a marine/tank composition and MarineKing on the other hand geared up for a big two base marine/medivac push at the 10 minute mark.

In the meantime though, MVP had sneaked his old banshee back into the main of MarineKing and it took out a lot of SCVs.MarineKing went for a two medivac drop in MVP's main, but Mvp denied the drop with vikings.
So Mvp was ahead, but MarineKing then did quick marine push at Mvp's third which he managed to take out.

Meanwhile MarineKing took his own third so Mvp decided it was time for some payback and so he went for drops both at the the main and third of MarineKing.MarineKing was ready for it though and he denied both drops and suddenly he was ahead in supply. Mvp retook his third this time in the center while placing a big defensive siege tank line around it and from here the game was very back in forth.
They attacked each other's third and both managed to kill a lot of SCV'sMarineKing tried to break Mvp in the center a couple of times some times winning engagements, and other times losing them.
They both took their fourth while constantly trying different attacks and drops.Mvp did some very big and effective drops in the main of MarineKing while also attacking the third. MarineKing couldn't do anything about it so he decided to go for a MASSIVE DOOM drop at Mvp's third and in a matter of seconds he took out the third and the natural and moved into the main of Mvp.

At the same time though, Mvp was also taking out all of MarineKing's bases and it was suddenly a basetrade with both of them only having their original fourth base left.Mvp managed to take out MarineKing's fourth while having a lot of siege tanks at his own fourth making it pretty safe.
So Mvp was the only one mining and MarineKing knew he had to try and attack, but all Mvp had to do was keep all his tanks sieged, and there was no was for MarineKing of breaking it and Mvp won the epic game and the series comfortably.

Mvp vs. MarineKing = 2-0

JYP vs. Curious

First set was on Whirlwind with Curious in the top left and JYP in the bottom right.

Curious went double expand before anything else, and JYP had gone for a forge fast expand and since he scouted the early third of Curious he went for a cannon rush forcing a cancel on the third of Curious.

JYP also went for some zealot harass at the natural and it actually killed some drones.Curious took a new third in the top center and from here they both focused a bit on economy with JYP going for phoenixes and a heavy 2 base attack.JYP also managed to sneak a pylon into Curious main and warp in a lot of units that did a good amount of damage.
But Curious had taken his fourth and focused on drones so he was actually ahead in supply but behind in tech as JYP had pumped out Colossi while taking his third.

At this point Curious had a lot of corrupters out but JYP still did a lot of good phoenix harass where he really used their speed advantage over the corrupters.Curious then took his fifth and JYP took his fourth which he could safely because Curious lair was really late.
They had a big engagement in the middle of the map, but Curious had too many curropters and while he took out JYP's colossi easily, the ground forces of JYP tore his own ground army apart.JYP then pushed at the fourth of Curious who managed to defend with spines and infestors.

From here they tried different kinds of harassment and small aggressions without doing too much damage to each other. In the meantime JYP had taking his fifth base in a sneaky place in the top right corner.

When they were both at max supply they had a big engagement where JYP landed a massive vortex on all the infestors, giving him the chance to take them out when they popped back out again.
At this point JYP was far ahead in economy and he also did some effective warp prism harassment in the main of Curious.Curious decided to do a final big push with his big broodlord/infestor force, but he didn't know about the sneaky 5th and also 6th base of JYP in the top right corner.

The game turned into an exciting basetrade with both player's easily taking all the other player's main bases out.
Eventually Curious realized that JYP had two bases in the top corner so he knew he had to engage and so they engaged for won final time.JYP threw down killer storms, but lost all high templars.
Once again though he landed a big vortex on all the infestors and eventually he crushed Curious' forces winning him a pretty thrilling set.

The second set was on Daybreak with JYP in the top right and Curious in the bottom left.

JYP went for another FFE while also placing a pylon to block the natural of Curious.
Once again he also went for a cannon rush at the third of Curious and once again he forced a cancel and at this point we felt pretty sorry for poor Curious.

Curious, who was pretty far behind decided to go for some 2-base infestor play while JYP geared up for a big 6-7 gateway push (with blink) and he started warping in at the pylon from his cannon rush.Curious threw down a bunch of spines at his natural, and with his infestors he just barely managed to deny the first couple of attacks from JYP.
But JYP just keep warping in units eventually also morphing archons and when they arrived at the natural of Curious they did massive damage. Curious switched into roaches and managed to hold on for a bit more, but JYP switched to mass stalker and with good blink micro rolled over Curious

JYP vs. Curious = 2-0

MarineKing vs. JYP

First set was on Entombed Valley with JYP in the top left and MarineKing in the bottom right.

MarineKing went for quick command center in his main and JYP for cybernetics into expand.MarineKing went for a big 2-base Marine/Medivac with stim and plus 1 attack.JYP on the other hand went for quick Colossus and actually managed to catch some of MarineKings army that had moved out on the map, and although he lost his first and only Colossus he also took out most of MarineKings army and denied the attack.

Instead they both took their third and MarineKing tried to push again, but JYP had as many Colossi as he had vikings so he could not attack.
So MarineKing then went up to two starports and eventually 12 vikings.MarineKing then pushed out once again and when they finally engaged just before the 17 minute mark, MarineKing positioned all his vikings perfectly and managed to crush JYP in the engagement and take the set.

The 2nd set was on Daybreak.

MarineKing went for hellions and a quick starport, and JYP for a quick 3 gate with blink build.MarineKing then went for a four hellion drop in JYP's main, and he wasn't ready for it at all and he lost 13-14 probes.
After this JYP had to try and do some damage with his blink stalker push, but MarineKIng knew the agression would be coming so he placed down a bunker and also got a tank out.JYP blinked into the main and took out the tank and some SCVs, but MarineKing got a surround on him and took out all his stalkers.

From here MarineKing expanded safely with JYP also expanded but way later and he was also far behind in supply. This caused JYP to desperately go for DTs to try and catch up.JYP only warped in one DT and of course it didn't do any damage as MarineKing had turrets ready.

On seeing this Tasteless started a hilarious joke about him having been sure that the single DT would be able to crush MarineKing's entire army and eventually take out the entire base of MarineKing.

That didn't happen though and from here MarineKing took his third while doubling JYP's supply.

Eventually MarineKing just attacked with everything and he had so much more than JYP that it was depressing to watch. JYP tried to throw down forcefields, but MarineKing picked up all his army and dropped on top of JYP's forces and that ended the series and knocked JYP out of code S for now.

MarineKing vs. JYP = 2-0

So all in all it was a day where most series were rather one-sided, but a few of the games were really epic.
In the end it was Mvp and MarineKing who moved on to the Round of 8 just as our initial average win rate logic had predicted.

25 Sep 2012

Today there were some highly anticipated games in the GSL code A, round of 48.

The only two foreigners in GSL at the moment, NaNiWa and MaNa, both had to play to try and keep their place in GSL.

On top of that Broodwar legend Flash had to play his first regular GSL match, which had naturally also spawned a lot of high expectations

MaNa vs. asd

MaNa won the first set on Antiga Shipyard with a very effective 3-base push with perfect storms eventually winning him the game.

In the second set on Entombed Valley asd made some good drops early on and eventually a very deadly all-in push with Marines/Tanks/Banshees/SCVs that took out MaNa's natural and contained him in his main with asd building bunkers at the natural.MaNa tried to break the contain but couldn't do it, so asd took the first set.

The third and deciding set was on Ohana and ended up looking a lot like the second set.
When asd pretty much did the exact same all-in push he once again managed to take out MaNa's natural and contain him in his main. MaNa tried to break it with immortals and eventually colossi but was more careful than in game 1 this time realizing that he probably wouldn't be able to break it.

MaNa scouted with his phoenixes that asd had moved his mainorbital to his natural, and since MaNa himself was completely mined out he knew he had to do something quickly.
So MaNa decided to sneak all of his army out of his main with a single warp prism and go for a basetrade.
This might have worked better if asd hadn't scouted it as quickly as he did, but asd saw it and went into MaNa's main with all his army quickly taking it out.
At the same time MaNa had no difficulty either with taking out asd's main

So at this point Mana's only structure was an assimilator that he had placed down in asd's original main. The only structures remaining for asd were a couple of buildings that were flying in different directions on the map. MaNa found the orbital and took it out eventually giving him vision of asd's remaining flying structures.

In the end asd's army was simply a lot bigger though and asd played carefully as he slowly moved towards MaNa's single remaining building.MaNa tried to take out asd's remaining structures with his phoenixes but asd could simply land the buildings and as MaNa lost his last Colossi he could do nothing but GG and realise that his days in GSL were over for now.

asd vs. MaNa = 2-1

NaNiWa vs. Mini

First set was on Ohana with Naniwa spawning in the top and Mini in the bottom.

Mini then tried to do some blink harassment in NaNiWa's main, but he was ready for it and Mini lost a few of the stalkers putting NaNiWa a bit ahead in army supply.

From there Mini went into Colossi tech but instead of adding his own robotics support bay NaNiWa decided to throw down 3 additional gateways and go for a big push to try and kill Mini before he got too many Colossi out.
Initially the push from NaNiWa did well as he managed to catch one of Mini's immortals with good forcefields at the ramp to the natural.

At this point though Mini had already gotten a few Colossi out and NaNiWa tried different approach-angles to see how he could best try and break Mini's forces. Eventually it led to a rather close engagement which Mini managed to win with good Colossi control.

NaNiWa tried to retreat with his remaining attack forces but Mini chased after him and took out two of NaNiWa's immortals. This gave Mini quite a big lead in army supply and NaNiWa frantically threw down another robotics facility to try and catch up in Colossi.
But Mini knew he was ahead and he didn't wait long before he pushed and when he did his higher Colossi number won him the final engagement at NaNiWa's natural thus winning Mini the set.

The second set was on Daybreak with NaNiWa spawning in the top right and Mini in the bottom left.

Both players pretty much went for the exact same "two gateways and two stalkers into robotics " build.

They both got a few more stalkers out and NaNiWa then managed to catch and take out one of MiNi's stalker out on the map.
This caused NaNiWa to go for some pressure at the ramp to Mini's main. Unfortunately for NaNiWa though, he overextended a bit and Mini caught some of NaNiWa's stalkers on the ramp.
This gave Mini a supply lead as they both took their natural expansions.

Mini then went for some warp prism with double immortal drops and throughout the entire game he actually used his warp prism beautifully. First he dropped a few times in the main.

Then he dropped at NaNiWa's third forcing a cancel on it, while he himself already had his own third finishing up.

Mini also managed to use the warp prism to get map control by dropping the immortals by the watch tower every time NaNiWa tried to claim it with a zealot.Mini then dropped in the main again and then at the natural and then in main again every time only doing a of damage and escaping just in time, which must have been pretty damn annoying for NaNiWa

Both player's had gone up to double robotics but by constantly harassing NaNiWa, Mini had gained a good lead in his Colossi number and overall army supply.
This allowed Mini to take his own fourth and at the same time go for a deadly push at NaNiWa's third. With Mini also having Archons to tank damage it never really got close and Mini took the set and the series knocking NaNiWa out of code A.

You can say what you want about NaNiWa and the somewhat strange behavior he has shown at some times, but you have to respect the fact that he risked everything and went to Korea this year to try and battle the best SC 2 players in the world at the center of the Starcraft scene.

With this in mind it's quite understandable that NaNiWa was absolutely devastated after his loss.
This guy has truly sacrificed a lot of foreign tournaments this year to try and prove himself it Korea and now he is out of the GSL and after losing this series he must be wondering what in the world he is supposed to do now.

Mini vs. NaNiWa = 2-0

Flash vs. Killer

The first set was on whirlwind with Killer spawning in the top left and Flash in the bottom left.

Killer went for a big 2 base Colossi push and as he moved towards the natural base of Flash it did not look like Flash would be ready for it at all.
However, in a matter of seconds Flash starting building additional bunkers while repairing the ones in the front beautifully with his SCVs.
Eventually he was able to do an impressive hold until he got vikings out and with them he was able to deny Killer's push.

Killer had invested A LOT in the attack and when Flash went for a big counter push Killer was behind in army supply.
When they engaged the vikings of Flash took care of Killer's Colossi while the stimmed bio army massacred Killer's ground forces and with that set 1 went to Flash.

Second set was on Cloud Kingdom and the game quickly developed into a pretty weird game as Killer went for a proxy robotics facility and Flash went for a proxy starport.Flash scouted Killer's proxy robotics with the hellions he wanted to drop in Killer's main, but he lost one of the hellions in the process.

Flash still dropped in Killer's main though and actually managed to kill quite a lot of probes with his two hellions mainly because Killer was supply blocked for a while and unable to warp in units to defend.

At the same time Flash had been able to set up a good defense at home. So when Killer tried to get something out of his proxy play, and push up the ramp to the main he had to way of doing damage as Flash already had sieged tanks on the high ground.

From here the game stabilized a bit with both player's taking their natural, but with Flash being quite a bit ahead after their opening agression.Killer though had sneakily placed down a dark shrine and with this managed to catch Flash completely off guard by sending two DTs to the main and two DTs to the natural.Flash had to bring his army all the way back from the middle of the map and while doing so took a devastating amount of damage.
From this point on Killer was in too big of a lead and when they finally engaged Killer took the set easily with Flash probably thinking "DTs are for noobs!".

The third and deciding set was on Entombed Valley with Flash spawning in the bottom right and Killer in the top right.

They both went up to three bases relatively fast and without getting bothered.
From here the game turned into a game of big engagements.
There was never really anything sneaky going on and the game was just decided by who positioned and controlled their units the best in the engagements.
And Flash did so in their first engagement, mainly by doing great damage to the Colossi with his perfect number of very well positioned Vikings

From this point on Flash was in a bit of a lead and as the game continued with a lot of big engagements they both seemed to control their armies really well and quite carefully.
But after every engagement Flash simply managed to come out a bit on top and stay ahead in army supply. At the same time Flash took his own fourth safely while taking out Killer's fourth numerous times, and eventually Flash just got further and further ahead and Killer was rolled over in the final engagements.

Flash vs. Killer = 2-1

There were also some other series today that we unfortunately did not get to watch, but according to Wolf and Khaldor the Maru vs. EffOrt games were really nice as well.

Anyway, all in all not a great day for foreigners in Korea, but a good day for all those people arguing that it's only a matter of time before Flash will be able to dominate the SC2 scene as he has done in Broodwar.